How the History of Black and Native Education Can Inform Our Future

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Feb 19, 2025

Eve Ewing, an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago and author of "Original Sins," dives deep into the intertwined histories of Black and Native education. She argues these narratives are crucial for understanding American schooling. Ewing critiques traditional metrics of success, exposing how they ignore systemic inequalities and inherited advantages. She challenges the biases in standardized testing and discusses the need for community dialogue to reframe educational objectives, empowering marginalized voices for a more equitable future.

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INSIGHT

Foundational Histories

The history of American education cannot be understood without understanding Black and Native American experiences.
These experiences are central, not a footnote, to the narrative.

INSIGHT

Distinct Yet Interconnected

Black and Native American educational experiences are distinct but interconnected.
Ewing's book "Original Sins" structures these histories around discipline, intellectual inferiority, and economic subjugation.

INSIGHT

Unexamined Assumptions

The purpose of school is often unexamined, leading to assumptions about what constitutes "good" education.
These assumptions may not serve Black, Native, and low-income students.

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Eve L. Ewing wants people to talk, not just about how American schools started, but also how that can inform the future of schools, especially for Black and Native children. She argues that Black and Native children’s schooling experience is more than just a footnote, but a central narrative in history.

“From the very first classes that I taught, I always began by telling my students, you cannot understand the history of schools in this country if you don't understand schools for Black people and schools for Native people,” she says. “Those are foundational to understanding the history of American public schooling.”

Those historical foundations of American public schooling are the focus of her new book, “Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism.” Ewing explains that her book was born from a need to unify discussions on these histories, structured around three themes: discipline and punishment, intellectual inferiority, and economic subjugation.

The University of Chicago Associate Professor highlights how the education system has been shaped by racist ideologies, many envisioned by Thomas Jefferson, and have only strengthened racial divisions. Those legacies continue today, with curriculums that downplay darker aspects of American history, and raise deep questions about what is the purpose of school. “There are a lot of unspoken assumptions, uninterrogated assumptions about what makes great education for Black and Native kids in particular, for low-income kids of all racial backgrounds, for kids of color of all income backgrounds, that sometimes isn't actually great for them,” she says.

She hopes that educators can find meaning by understanding history and possibly find ways to create a new future for schools. “These are long and old systems, but they were created by people, and we are also people, right? And it is also within our power to examine and critique those systems and create new ones,” she says.

In this episode, Ewing calls for honest conversations about history, a reevaluation of education’s purpose, and collective action to challenge systemic oppression in schools.